Madadayo

Madadayo is legendary Japanese film director Akira Kurosawa's 30th and final film. The film was partly based on the life of professor Hyakken Uchida, a Japanese professor and author. Despite his retirement, he is so adored by his former students that they continue to visit him year after year.

Professor Hyakken Uchida, played by Tatsuo Matsumura, retires from his job as a professor of German literature in 1943, but retirement does not mean he does not continue to receive visits from former students. Every year on Uchida's birthday, the students gather to celebrate with the professor and his wife, played by Kyoko Kagawa. His students so adore Uchida that when his house is destroyed by an Allied bomb, they come together to buy him a new one, and when his beloved cat goes missing, they organize a search party in hopes of finding it. Uchida's students celebrate every year from their professor's 60th birthday until his 77th, bringing children and grandchildren to enjoy the company of the professor they love, knowing every year may be the last opportunity to do so.http://nymag.com/nymetro/movies/reviews/3718/

"A lifetime of moviemaking - Kurosawa was 83 when he made it - seems to have pared down his technique to its essentials."—Peter Rainer, New York Magazinehttp://nymag.com/nymetro/movies/reviews/3718/

"Madadayo remains a masterly work, with Kurosawa, then 83, still capable of surprising an audience and creating indelible images."—Kevin Lally, Film Journalhttp://www.filmjournal.com/filmjournal/reviews/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1000697497

• Tatsuo Matsumura as Professor Hyakken Uchida

• Kyoko Kagawa as Professor's Wife

• Hisashi Igawa as Takayama

• Joji Tokoro as Amaki

• Masayuki Yui as Kiriyama

• Akira Terao as Sawamura

• Takeshi Kusaka as Dr. Kobayashi

• Asei Kobayashi as Rev. Kameyama

• Hidetaka Yoshioka as Takayama's son

• Yoshitaka Zushi as Neighbor

• Mitsuru Hirata as Tada

• Nobuto Okamoto as Ohta

• Google Blog Search: Madadayo

• AkiraKurosawa.info: Madadayo Blog Posts

• Fan Site: Madadayo Review

• Flixster: Current Madadayo Fan Group

• IMDb: Madadayo User Comments

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